Fielder

According to the Laws of Cricket, two teams of 11 each compete in the championships. One team serves and catches the balls, and the second hits them. So, the first team is the players who perform the actions of catching the balls. The team includes:

• Bowler;
• Keeper of the gate;
• Field players – fielder (they are also bowlers).

There is separate prepared material about the bowler and the keeper of the wicket. Now we will analyze who the fielder is.

A fielder is a player on the pitch who catches the balls directly after the batsman is hit. There are nine outfield players in the stadium (10th bowler, 11th wicket-keeper). They are located throughout the playground. To correctly determine the location of the fielders, there is a captain in the team who, depending on the tactics of the bowler, decides their appropriate placement. There are basic fielder positions in competition today. Some of them are used in almost every game.

Of course, nine fielders will not be able to close the entire playing area. It is the team captain who decides which positions to use and which ones to leave open. Accommodation is the main responsibility of the captain.

Fielder – some positions and general rules

Some outfield players can be used in the attacking zone (near the pitch). The goal of finding the fielder is to keep a close eye on the batsman and catch the ball quickly, rather than running all over the field. This position is called cordon (more in a separate article).

The deep cover, deep extra cover or deep midwicket positions are practically at the playground’s edge. The fielder’s main goal here is to defend the area and prevent the ball from bouncing (usually by bouncing off the ground) outside the field.

The cow corner position is a comic name for a place on the border between deep midwicket and long on (for more details about this and other positions, see the picture).

In principle, fielders can be placed almost anywhere on the pitch, subject to certain rules:

• No fielder can pitch. If his shadow hits the pitch, the fielder must not move until the batsman has received the serve;
• There can be no more than two field players behind the wicket (next to it), except for the keeper of the wicket;
• Some limited overs matches have fielders per 30 yard circle. The rule is named PowerPlay (more info in the circle article). If PowerPlay is violated, the match referee stops play and awards additional points to the battering team.

Also, the placement of field players depends on the tactics of the team and its attitudes towards the game. Basically, there are two attitudes to the game: to attack or to defend.

Attacking in fielding means positioning the fielder to quickly catch the bowler’s balls and knock out the wicket. It means that the outfield players must be positioned as close as possible to the batsman.

What you need to know when attacking:

1. New batsman. Every batsman has to adjust to the pitch, bowler throw at the beginning of his moves. Therefore, most likely, during the first serves, he can make mistakes. In this case, you need maximum concentration from the nearby fielder;
2. New ball or better bowlers. On a new ball, the serving team uses strong and fast bowlers. It means that it will be difficult to hit the balls, so you also need to pay attention to the attack;
3. Wet field. Under these conditions, the most unpredictable thing is the bounce of the ball from the pitch. This is a very big plus for an attack;
4. The excitement of the batsmen. Another important factor. If the field team captain sees that the batsman cannot hit the balls well, he must immediately move the team into the attack zone.

The second important setting is protection. Defending means paying more attention to the batsman’s long-range strikes. To do this, distribute the fielders away from the batsman throughout the playing area. In this case, you need to know that:

1. When a batsman gets used to the bowler, he gets good, quality shots. In this case, the best option for the serving team would be to defend the pitch to catch the batsman on some long throw;
2. If the goal of the battering team is to earn more runs, this means that the batsman will try to bounce as far as possible. Therefore, it is advisable to place the outfield players away from the pitch;
3. With a weak bowler (ferret), the throw may be of poor quality. Based on this, the batsman will try to play a knockout kick to score 4 or 6 runs at once. It is also important to keep the fielders out of the way here.

Note that no field team member (other than the wicket-keeper) may wear gloves or external leg protectors. However, they are allowed to wear groin and chest protectors. It is also allowed to wear a helmet or face shield. The battering team may suffer 5 additional runs if the ball touches a headgear that the fielder does not wear. This rule was introduced to prohibit players from using their headgear to catch the ball in the 19th century.

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